war. They knew it only from books. But for those who already knew the smell
of cannon fodder, the dreadful meaning of the outbreak of war brought shudders
to their hearts and minds.
Kutno was a major railway junction with strategically important military
installations, so from the first day of the war, 1 September 1939, the
bombs of the aerial murderers rained down on the railway station, where large
numbers of reserve recruits were assembled, ready to join their regiments and
leave for the front to defend the Fatherland. The bombs prevented this, killing
120 men and wounding around 200. People were shaken up. Kutno was
bombed every day at specific times, three times a day. At first, only military
objectives were bombed, but in the following days the civilian population was
also hit. On 2 November, a bomb hit a passenger train, killing 80 people and
wounding several hundred. Every day brought casualties, and heartrending
scenes were played out in the hospitals that had been set up. People began to
flee in fear and confusion from the life and death [4] awaiting them at the
hands of the murderers. On the way they suffered fear and hardship, running
breathlessly and chaotically from place to place on every road. Kutno
was in flames. People were running around as if intoxicated. The means of
transport were destroyed. There were obstacles on the road, and dramatic episodes of spies being shot. Fugitives saw a seventeen-year-old, a Volksdeutsche, shot as a German spy.
On the first day of selichot 5700, Kutno was bombed throughout the day
and 18 Jews were killed. The synagogue and prayer house were converted into
hospitals for civilians and military personnel, and the wounded numbered in
the thousands. Thousands of Jews also arrived from other places.
The town lay dead, and people awaited the arrival of the enemy. On the
second day of the New Year festival, people prayed in private minyanim.
The shofar was not blown. On Shabbat Teshuvah everyone sat shut up at home.
But soon, early in the day, all the men were driven out of their houses and
herded into the marketplace, Jews and Christians together. Each was asked
whether he possessed any knives, shears, weapons, etc. Anyone who had any,
handed them over. [4a] They all stood there in fear for hours until a German
officer arrived and addressed them in Polish. He announced that anyone in
possession of weapons should surrender them on pain of death, and that
everyone would be treated well. From that moment, people began to feel the
pressure of the new regime on their backs.
